was on the evacuation bus to a small town in eastern Ukraine, where four civilians died in a Russian attack yesterday.
EASTERN UKRAINE The evacuation bus arrives early in the morning in the small town of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine. It’s only a little over ten kilometers to the front, and the roar of war can be heard in the background.
A group of people with suitcases are waiting in front of the old cultural house. There are buildings all around, which Russia has destroyed in the firing of the last few weeks.
In a hurry, nothing but a few clothes and hygiene items are taken on the evacuation trip.
The house, chattels and often pets too have to be left behind.
Julia’s sixteen-year-old son is developmentally disabled.
– I packed some clothes for him because he uses diapers. Everything else remained.
Julia’s older children live in Poland. She breaks down in tears when she tells him she’s on her way there.
A scary thought pops into his mind.
– We will die in a foreign country, he says.
Russia has now concentrated all its forces on the Pokrovsky region in eastern Ukraine. The closer the Russian troops are, the more dangerous life is.
In the last couple of weeks, thousands have left.
Ukrainian authorities have ordered a mandatory evacuation for families with children in certain areas.
Wells fill up with water
Sergei says that he might have persisted if he didn’t have a two-year-old daughter in his arms.
– The Russians destroyed the kindergarten and all three of our schools. The electricity is out.
Sergei is a miner and heads to the Kiev region with his family. They say there would be work there. He says that even the last mine in the Kurakhove area was closed.
– I was working in mine number 42. It was filled with water because the electricity didn’t work.
Many mines have been flooded as a result of the Russian war of aggression and cannot be drained due to the fighting. The result can be environmental damage.
Evacuations are not a new thing for Eastern Ukrainians. Almost two million people fled Donbas ten years ago in the summer of 2014, when Russian forces started the war in eastern Ukraine.
After the major attack in February 2022, a huge number of people had to leave their homes again.
Ukraine has tried to find temporary accommodation for those fleeing the Russian war this time as well.
However, the majority of those who get on the bus tell about the close relatives they are going to see. Group accommodation is usually the last option.
This time, people leave the demarcated area, mainly around Pokrovski.
Strategically and politically important for Putin
President of Russia Vladimir Putin has vowed from the start to capture the Donetsk region. Russia seems to be pushing that goal right now. Troops have been transferred to Donbas from other fronts.
There are a few small towns and numerous villages in the Pokrovsk region.
The most strategically important goal for Russia is still the city of Pokrovsk. It is the crossing point of land and railways.
Evacuations are usually a joint effort between the authorities and non-governmental organizations. So in this case too.
A volunteer organization called Proliska drives buses to Kurakhove and takes the evacuees from there to the city of Dnipro.
The police are looking for people in the most difficult frontline locations.
The Proliska organization has phone and online services where you can register to be evacuated. Services are announced everywhere.
When the bus passes through the checkpoint on the way from Kurakhove to Dnipro, a policeman enters the bus. He checks the information of families with children.
This is how the authorities try to ensure that there are no children left on the front line.
The bus is quiet in the midst of sadness
Twenty-year-old Alina is sad.
– Crying. Crying. My whole life was here. I studied and grew up here. My apartment, my father’s apartment, my grandmother’s house – everything is here. Everything is foreign there, he says and points to the road ahead.